National Security
by Agent Taggert
Summary: How will the leverage team deal with an devastating blow? Mostly the entire leverage team. Some Parker/Hardison.
1. Chapter 1

**_My first fic. Please review. I have at least 7 chapters planned out, maybe more._**

"Guys, stick to the plans please? It's hard enough considering every variable we can't control without you guys improvising every other move," Nate said exasperated. As if it wasn't hard enough keeping this band of misfits in line, now he had to worry about their notoriety more than ever before. Their latest client had found them through the internet after all.

"For the umpteenth time, I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know he'd know the difference between an Infrared Receiver and a RFID Receiver?" Hardison sighed. He thought it was a good bluff at the time. As always, they were ungrateful, just ungrateful! Who was it that had gotten back all the evidence? ME. Who was it that had secured all the intel so that no one would be able to get it? ME. It'd all worked out in the end hadn't it?

"Really Hardison? You didn't think that a computer geek from the NSA wouldn't know the difference between the two?" Sophie said exasperated. Sometimes that boy just didn't use his head.

Parker smiled as she remembered Harrison's last grift. She was the reason he had grifted in the first place. As she stepped outside the van, she couldn't help but remember all the times the hacker had pulled her out of a tight situation.

Elliot's gruff voice interrupted the thief's train of thought. "Dammit Hardison! Just stay in the van like a good hacker alright? It's been good so far. Let's not mess things up now." Indeed things had been going very well. Almost too well thought the mastermind, but he quickly pushed those thoughts aside as he had more pressing concerns. "Sophie I need you to stall so Parker can get into his car."

"It's too open," Parker complained. "There's no good cover anywhere in this giant parking lot."

"You're right. Elliot keep an eye on the perimeter. We need to give her time alone. Hardison, you're on security."

"I'll tell you when I'm in," the hacker replied as he started his remote hack, oblivious to the world outside his van.

"Mr. Vesita, a moment of your time," Sophie said starting her stall.

"Hardison, status?" Nate asked. Something was bugging him but he didn't know what it was yet.

"Ok Parker, I looped their feed for the next 10 min."

"I'm on it."

"Whoa hold up. I just got kicked out. Guys this is weird. Such a small company shouldn't have this much security."

"It's okay. I'm already in."

"Thank you Mrs. Kroy but I'm afraid I left the contracts in my car. If you talk to my assistant I'm sure she can show you to our conference room." Mr. Vesita said motioning for his secretary to come as he walked into the elevator.

There was some static on the line making it difficult for Nate to hear what Mr. Vesita said. But he figured Sophie was just about done. "Parker wrap it up. He's on his way out."

"Okay something's definitely not right. I recognize this work," Hardison panicked. "Guys can you hear me? Shit!" His coms had already been side jacked, and only one man could possibly do that this quickly.

"Hello Hardison, remember me?" Hardison remembered alright. He knew he had to warn the team, and started to work around the security measures that he himself had set-up. Unfortunately, he was too busy worrying about his friends to notice the men outside his van.

"Why leave the documents in his car?" thought Nate. He knew he'd need them. And a meeting on Saturday? Every instinct told Nate that this was a setup. But this would be their only chance wouldn't it? Except... "Hardison, what's going on? Can you hear me?" This static was starting to piss Nate off. He thought it was Hardison that had picked these up himself. And what was Mr. Vesita doing taking the elevator? His car was outside, not in the underground parking garage.

"Umm. Guys I don't think Mr. Vesita is a researcher. His car is clean. I mean really clean. I think it's a rental. Why would he have a rental?" Parker asked.

"I don't know. But we're pulling out. Now."

"Mrs. Kroy? I have a phone call for you." Mr. Vesita's assistant said.

"Hello?" Sophie said tentatively.

"Sophie Devereaux, so good to hear your voice. Prison can be so lonely," the voice that could only belong to Chaos said.

"Chaos, you waiting for us to send you back to prison again? What possible advantage could you possibly have to escape now?" Sophie replied.

"Hardison, get out of the van now!" Nate barked. It all made sense now. Splitting everyone up making sure Hardison stayed in the van where he was needed.

"You know what they say. Third time's the charm. You know how much I love revenge. Right Hardison? Oh yeah that's right. He can't hear us, I already isolated his frequency," Chaos laughed.

"Parker, Elliot, I need you to get Hardison now!" But they were already charging through the parking lot toward the van on the opposite side of the street.

"Oh but it's too little too late! And you of all people should know how much I like bombs. And big red buttons," Chaos laughed as the van exploded before they could even get to the street. Elliot could feel the force of the blast from the parking lot, stopping him mid run. That was until Parker blasted bast him toward the inferno.

Parker couldn't think. There was no way Hardison would leave her like this. She had to go to him. He needed her.

"Parker he's gone! You can't help him anymore!" Elliot exclaimed as he chased after her afraid she might hurt herself in the fire and burning fuel everywhere.

"No he's not!" Parker cried as she continued her sprint.

Finally catching up to her, Elliot dragged a struggling Parker back to the car as the first ambulance drove past, sirens blaring. "He needs me!" she screamed, fighting the hitter with everything she could trying to get to the wreckage burning in the street.

**_There's more to this story than meets the eye. I think I left a couple of clues in there. I want to include more Parker/Hardison mostly, Parker's reaction to *spoiler* Hardison's death lol just in case you skipped to bottom. I'm at a bit of a loss for how to portray her or Sophie for that matter. PM if you'd like to help. Don't worry, I've got a good idea of what I want to do. All that's left is to make sure the details are just right. :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_This is sooner than I expected. I had it ready already so I thought, why not?_**

6 weeks earlier.

Parker, Hardison and Elliot were waiting for Sophie and Nate to get back with a job, hanging out in Nate's apartment. Elliot was busy cooking dinner while Parker and Hardison were on the couch watching National Treasure. Or trying to anyways. Hardison couldn't keep his comments about Riley's poor choice in equipment to himself. Elliot smiled to himself as he saw the two on the couch. It was always obvious that Hardison had feelings for Parker. He was about as subtle as a flash bang grenade. The thief on the other hand, was an enigma. Three years he spent with her and he still only knew so little. But what he did know is that she worked better with him than anyone else. Hagan and Thomas had always been their most successful cover story.

That had got Elliot thinking. They did seem to spend more time together than with anyone else. You truly had to put together the pieces to fill in the picture. All the sideways glances and the shared smiles added up to something. Now that he thought about it, maybe there was something deeper going on there. Had they taken it to the next level? There was that one week in April Hardison decided he needed a break to visit his family. And when he thought about it, didn't Parker also decide that she needed that week off too? Of course, Elliot hadn't thought much about it at the time because Nate decided to give everybody the week off. But something about it seemed suspicious to Elliot.

Hardison and Parker were always headed in the same direction after a con. The transition from co-workers to friends to... whatever that is, was so seamless, he almost missed it. Look at them sitting on the couch; They were so close, they might as well be cuddling. Elliot had to admit, whatever it was that Hardison and Parker had, it was good. Just when he realized he had been staring at them, almost as if she sensed his eyes, Parker whipped her head around toward the kitchen.

"Do you smell burning?" she asked bewildered.

Crap! He had been daydreaming for too long and forgot he was cooking. "It's all good," he said, quickly scavenging what he could from the pan. He was getting starting to get sentimental. He missed that feeling of closeness with someone he hadn't had in a while. Elliot started to feel more like a fifth wheel every day. One night stands were great until the morning. Luckily, Sophie and Nate came back in just as he was finishing his last dish.

"Alright guys our client is Martha Shuma, the wife of a senator's aide who got killed because he got a good look at a couple of files he shouldn't have. Now, Mr. Shuma used to work for Robert Biscombe, a senator from Connecticut. We have to figure out why it is that Mr. Shuma was killed. All we know is that he was mugged in his car and we assume the files taken off of his body," Nate told the team as he passed around the file.

"Well, it definitely wasn't a carjacking gone wrong. He was strangled from behind. The mark on his neck suggests military grade fiber wire," Elliot informed. "It's a very distinctive mark," he elaborated before they could reply.

"Biscombe made his political career on his 'tough stance' with National Security. As such he spear-headed the bill that had doubled the size of the NSA and other covert ops organizations and tripled their budget. A preliminary investigation had revealed a possible suspect. Mr. Shuma's replacement, Fred Durst, had had previous experience as a consultant to both the NSA and CIA's cryptography divisions, giving him access to their computer banks. That's our link. We need to break into the NSA and see what it is that they know."

"Slight problem. Let's just say these guys are a little more security conscious than the average joe. Not only do they employ the very guys whose job it is to stop and apprehend me, but they also keep all the juicy information in a room with no outside access. Not even phone lines in or out."

"So even if you were in the building..."

"We'd still be a no go. I have to be in the room myself."

" Well then, let's get you in that room. Sophie, I need you to stay on Biscombe. Elliot, I need you to get Mr. Durst out of the room while Parker gets Hardison in. Let's go steal ourselves a National Security Agency."

**_Please don't expect every update to be this quickly lol. This story is gonna take up another 2 chapters before we get back to the juicy bits. At least that's how much I have planned so far._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Well here's the next chapter. Things didn't turn out quite as I expected but I think you'll still enjoy it.  
><em>**

Things had been going smoothly so far. As the retrieval specialist and the one with the most experience in this area, Elliot had been sent in to find out just what was going on. Hardison had built one of his specialty cover stories. This time, he was Lieutenant James Foster, a patriot through and through.

"Lieutenant Foster here to see a Mr. Durst regarding the security protocols." He smiled as he remembered the last time he had walked through these doors.

"Follow me," the assistant had said leading the way. He was glad for the cover story now. He had not exactly parted on good terms with the united states government.

"Remember Elliot, we gotta figure out what it is that Fred Durst actually knows. Do what you can while Parker and Hardison use his access to gets to his files. I'll let you know when Sophie's done with Senator Biscombe."

"I'm on it," Elliot said as the assistant approached Fred. He knew exactly how to get him away from his desk. The NSA couldn't have changed that much.

"Ok Parker, Hardison, get me those files"

Hardison was quite displeased with what he saw on the desk. He had hacked into the NSA servers before. It had been a cake walk back then. They must have had a pretty big security breach in order to elicit such a dramatic response. "This might take a little longer than I thought people. In order to copy a file, I need three different passwords and biometric scans at the same time. I can do it, but it's gonna take time."

"Get started then. Parker I need you to look for any connection to Biscombe other than Mr. Durst. If he's not the killer I want to know who," Nate said through the coms. Nate knew Fred Durst was hiding something. He just didn't know what it was yet.

Parker began searching the floor room by room. It was slow work especially since most of the locks were specially designed to be pick-proof. Luckily for them almost no one was there on a Friday afternoon. Then again, almost no one wasn't the same as no one.

"Hey you! You don't belong here! I was told only Mr. Durst would be here today," a nosey techie said.

"Well someone's needs to clean this place, and everyone seems to complain whenever they're working," Parker stammered out quickly. Hoping Elliot or Hardison would be able to get to her.

"Hardison get out now, Elliot's on his way he'll take care of Parker," Nate practically begged.

"He won't make it on time!" Hardison retorted as he stepped outside Mr. Durst's office. "Hey she's with me. I just stepped in here to install this Infrared Receiver for a Mr. Durst. You know how these management types are."

"Uhh... that's obviously a RFID skimmer," the man said looking even more nervous with the addition of another unexpected guest. "Yeah, I'm calling security," he said heading toward the door. Parker almost rolled her eyes. Hardison was the only person on the team who was worse at grifting than her. Although Sophie had been trying to tell her that it was the thought that counts. She supposed she should be glad that he had put everything on the line to help her. Luckily Elliot already had everything under control.

"Thank you but that won't be necessary. They are here under orders," Mr. Durst said as he walked in beside Elliot. "They are here to test our security. Clearly it needs more work since they got this far doesn't it? Lieutenant Foster I assume these were the people you were telling me about?"

"Yes I'm afraid they got farther than I expected them to without tripping any alarms," Elliot said as he examined the pair. How could they have been so careless to get caught?

"Yes it's a good thing you were here to stop them. One more failure and we would've been in deep trouble. You just might get commemorated Mr... I'm sorry who are you again? I thought I knew everyone with access to this floor," Mr. Durst asked.

For a second there was silence as Elliot noticed just how distraught the techie actually was. One second as he analyzed the possibility that this man was not who he said he was. One second before the man suddenly pulled out a knife, lunging for Fred.

**_This storyline is getting a little tedious. I might upload the next chapter later today and finish this up quickly. I want to get back to the main story line as soon as possible. But as much as I want to get the next chapter out, its also very important to the story. Check back later today :)_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Here it is. The final chapter before we get back to the main storyline._**

Elliot dispatched the man quickly enough. When they finally got back to HQ Fred has spilled told them everything they wanted to know.

"I just got my job for Senator Biscombe a week ago. All I knew was that I would be overseeing some important document transfers between the Senator. That's when I found out just what these documents are. He's using the NSA as a private army of sorts. Anybody needs something illegal done, he can say he has a government agency waiting on standby for them. The other agencies just turn a blind eye, not that they could prove anything even if they tried. It's the perfect setup. No one ever really knows what the NSA ever does. When Mr. Shuma died, the CIA sent me undercover trying to get enough evidence to put Senator Biscombe in his place but after today, I guess my cover's blown."

"Just one problem. The man that they sent to kill you, didn't work for the NSA. The way he wielded the knife proves he had extensive martial arts experience. Not something you'd find in a NSA assassin. If I had to guess, I'd say he worked for the Yakuza," Elliot added.

"How is it that just one man could get away with this?" Nate asked.

"Well the senator has put out an emergency protocol incase he should ever die or disappear. He's got files and files of evidence of all the dirty business the NSA has done in the past 20 years. He's blackmailing the NSA to do his dirty work for him by threatening to reveal all the assassinations and bribes they've done over the years. If any of it ever got out, there would be a bigger fallout than ever before. US credibility worldwide would be devastated. He was even smart enough to put some actual National Secrets in there as well. Even if we found it, we couldn't just delete it. Otherwise a lot of our defense networks would be disabled. Once the trigger is pulled, the information spill onto the internet across millions of websites and news networks. And that's something even the NSA, CIA, and FBI combined can't stop."

"So the only thing that's keeping Senator Biscombe from being tried for treason is this file correct?" Nate asked. Fred nodded his head as Nate continued his train of thought. "I'm going to guess that in your investigation of Senator Biscombe, you found out where the file is and now everyone is after you. Senator Biscombe wants you dead to keep his file intact. The Yakuza want the file for their own personal use. I mean this is the biggest breach in national security ever, and whoever comes out holding the cards will be able to get almost anything they wanted. Well, Mr. Durst. Where's the file at?"

"That's just the thing," he said dejectedly. "I don't know where it is anymore. He kept a copy on his computer but it's no longer there. Wherever it is, Senator Biscombe moved it out of my reach. All I know is that it was transferred through multiple proxy servers and so far, I've been unable to locate it."

Slowly an idea formed in Hardison's head. "If I were given access to the NSA servers, I could locate it. I mean I don't even think I'd need to be there to do it."

"Wait that makes no sense," Elliot growled. "I thought the whole reason we broke in was because you couldn't do it remotely."

"That was totally different. While the servers to the NSA database are completely secure, the servers they use to catch cyber crime is not. I mean, the very fact that they can trace outside sources leave them vulnerable. That's exactly the reason why they keep them separate. With Mr. Durst's help, I'm sure we'll know who took the information by the end of the night. I'll even be able to ensure that only the CIA has access to the information so that they can go through it and delete only the evidence that could be used against the NSA."

"Alright Mr. Durst. You want this file back, you need to give Hardison the access he needs. Sophie I need you to get Senator Biscombe out in public where the police can arrest him. Mr. Durst, I'd suggest you start using your agency contacts to ensure this is finished as cleanly as possible. Let's wrap this up."

Less than 24 hours later, the leverage crew found themselves celebrating in McRory's bar as Senator Biscombe was paraded past the news crews into the police car waiting patiently outside. At least now, the leverage crew could relax. Or so they thought.

**_I may have rushed the ending there but I'm much more excited for the next chapter. In case anyone was wondering, yes, I did get the whole blackmail idea from Nikita. Unfortunately I couldn't think of a better conspiracy :( Oh well. At least now we can get back to the aftermath of the end of the first chapter._**


	5. Chapter 5

The silence in the car as Elliot drove was driving him crazy. The trip from New York back to Boston was going to be a long trip indeed. They were driving home in Mr. Vesita's car with Nate staring blankly out the window, lost in his own thoughts. The silence, was the hardest thing he had ever gone through. Well, almost. He was at least thankful that Parker had finally cried herself out in Sophie's arms. It wasn't just the fact that no one spoke a word the whole time. It was Parker that really got to him. It hurt to see her so devastated.

Elliot gripped the steering wheel harder as the kept thinking. Thinking about the last words he said to Hardison. "Dammit Hardison! Just stay in the van like a good hacker alright?" Elliot could feel the guilt weld up inside of him, and he hated himself for it. Rationally, it wasn't his fault. His words had been nothing but another of meaningless remarks the two shared between them. Just a brother teasing a brother. Nevertheless, it ate away at him, and this silence was NOT helping. He never had problems letting go of the plethora of comrades in arms that had befallen misfortune just as Hardison had. But then again, Hardison was not a comrade in arms. He was his best friend, and a civilian.

It was dark by the time they reached McRory's bar, and as he led the silent Parker back to the apartment, he began planning exactly what he was going to do the moment he laid eyes on Chaos. As Parker sat on the couch with Sophie, Elliot joined Nate in the dinning rom. Elliot had to admit he was surprised Nate didn't go straight for the bar, as the two of them sat around the table trying to comprehend just went down that afternoon.

"What are we going to do?" asked Sophie from the couch, breaking the reverie that encased the table.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna find Chaos and I'm gonna do what I do best," Elliot replied.

"The smart move is to walk away. We can't go up against Chaos without a hacker. Without Hardison, we'd be walking in blind," Nate said. He did not like this. Everything had been a setup since the beginning. The whole Vesita job had been a giant mistake. Somebody had been pulling the strings and he didn't know who. It certainly wasn't Chaos. He had manipulated them before, but there was a clear goal in mind. This time, he got nothing out of killing Hardison.

Elliot on the other hand couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Seriously Nate? Hardison was one of us. I thought you were an honorable man."

"Alright even if we were to go after them, how would we do it? Do you know where Chaos is? Do you know who's his boss? Did you even consider the fact that there was someone other than Chaos involved?"

"I don't care Nate. We can't let this go! I won't let this go."

"Fine! Fine. Here's the plan. Elliot you take Parker home. Make sure she doesn't do anything too dangerous. Sophie, there's someone we need to talk to."

"What? Why me?" Elliot exclaimed. "Wouldn't this be a better job for Sophie? I break bones, not mend hearts."

"Just see what you can do, Ok? I promise we'll get on Chaos' trail the moment we get back."


	6. Chapter 6

**_Sorry for not updating in almost 2 weeks. Wow. As an avid fanfic reader myself, I know how annoying that is. This chapter was just so big though that I had to make sure it was right. Any ways enjoy._**

Nate was pacing back and forth in front of the house in Chicago they had finally found while Sophie studied him. They had taken the last flight from Boston to Chicago last night, and had spent all morning searching. Their target had been hidden extremely well and if it wasn't for Sophie's ability to read people, they would never have found her. Sophie sighed as Nate slowly worked himself into a frenzy.

"Come on Nate, you know what you have to do," Sophie said.

"I know what to do. I'm just trying to think of anything else we could do."

"Well, not to pressure you or anything, but don't you think it's a little suspicious? Two people just standing outside a house in a suburban neighborhood?"

Nate paced around some more. At least it was a nice spring day. Spending all day knocking on houses was very taxing when you restless. At least the kids would still be in school. It would be hard enough for Nate as it was without him having to worry about the children that would be around. Nate slowly walked up the steps and rung the doorbell. Nate waited anxiously by the door until a Caucasian woman in her early forty's answered the door. Nate found himself caught off guard by her appearance. She was stunning to say the least. He could easily have seen her as a centerfold model, if not for the scar that ran diagonally across her face. Nate found himself struggling not to laugh as the words "Bond Villain" crossed his mind.

"Sorry to bother you but, we're looking for Mrs. Hardison?" Sophie inquired after her partner's silence. God, Nate could be such an ass.

"Oh, you must be friends of Alec. I'm Ms. Wilson. Come on in," she said inviting him in. The house was not big. Maybe enough to fit five or six comfortably. "Is Alec parking the car with Parker?"

This question took Sophie by surprise. How much did she know about the team and what they did? "No, I'm afraid they won't be joining us."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. I'm so glad that Alec finally found someone. They looked so happy when they came down to my 41st birthday party. Would you like anything to drink? I'm sure Janice would be more than happy to get it for you." Motioning toward the girl on the sofa in her early twenties.

"No thanks," Nate replied. "We actually just had some news for Hardison's foster mother."

"Yes that's me. I know most foster children take the last names of their foster families, but Alec was special," she smiled warmly.

"But that's impossible. I mean you can't be more than 40," Sophie said a little jealously.

"That's true. I'm only 42 years old. Like I said, Hardison was in a unique situation. When I was 25, I had just graduated college with a bull shit Bachelor's degree in psychology from DePaul. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had been floating around for a while getting a modeling job whenever I could but I knew I wanted to do something important with my life. There wasn't much I could do with a psychology degree so I started volunteering at the local church. Before I knew it, my pastor told me that there was recently a child whose parents had been killed and he had no family to take him. I finally knew that this would be a chance for me to make a difference. I talked to my pastor more about it and I found out he was old for a foster child, almost 13. His father was a single child whose parents had died a while back. His mother's family was either in prison or had outstanding warrants. It looked like he would have nowhere to go.

By the time I adopted him, he was scared. To be fair, I was kind of scared myself. I didn't know if I'd be able to just pickup raising this child where his parents left off. At first our relationship was rocky at best. I tried to make feel like family. He always adamantly refused to call me his mom. Then one night, someone broke into my house and attacked me. They attacked my face and stabbed me when I was still in my bed. I had been living on my own for a while, so I guess he didn't know Alec was in the house. He saved my life when the thief ran away. He called 911 and stayed by my side the whole time saying, 'I'm not gonna let you go too, Nana.' It was the first time he had called me that and I guess it just stuck. Since then, I've adopted many other children and Alec's been helping me the whole time." Janice smiled warmly as she thought back to all times Alec had helped her and Nana out. After a moment of silence as Ms. Wilson finished her story, Nate decided that this was as good a time as any to break the news to her. Once again however, Sophie decided to take lead on this conversation.

"That's amazing. We always knew you two had an amazing relationship, but I'm afraid we have some bad news. Hardison was killed yesterday. I don't know how much you know about what we do, but we deal with some pretty bad people." Sophie looked over at Nate for some support, but she got nothing from him as he stared at the floor in front of him. She assumed that the guilt and memories of losing his son were too painful for him. Janice cried out in horror before running to her room, leaving Ms. Wilson alone with Nate and Sophie.

"How did it happen?" she asked in a hushed voice. Not that knowing would ease the pain. It was simply something she needed to know.

"Well, someone came to us when a small company started selling defective protective equipment to miners. We don't normally have time to help everyone but we had just finished a really big job and this seemed like an easy win. It's not until the van that Hardison was in exploded did we realize it was a setup. I'm sorry but we'll do everything we can to ensure that the men who are responsible are brought to justice."

Ms. Wilson just nodded her head as she absorbed the information. She had always known that Alec had dabbled on the wrong side of the law. She always knew better than to ask him where all the money came from. Just then, Nate's phone rang and he answered it.

"I'm sorry Ms. Wilson, but we have to go. That was Elliot on the phone and I promise we will be back when we're done."

**_Still not sure I like the finished product. Oh well, it'll have to do. I don't know when I can update next because I'll be moving into my dorm this next weekend but I'll try to update asap. :)_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Sorry again for the late update. I always hate it when authors take forever to update but I guess I know know why lol. Well, enjoy._**

It's at times like this that getting only 90 minutes of sleep a day actually made his life easier. Although he resented being assigned as Parker's "babysitter", he knew it was necessary to watch over the team's wildcard. There was no knowing what she would do in her grief, and as much of a pain as it was, he knew he would never forgive himself if something happened to her on his watch.

It was late after Nate and Sophie left, so Elliot and Parker decided to spend the night at Nate's place. Parker took a shower while Elliot got busy cooking something simple. Elliot was used to Parker's taciturn personality, but in addition to the events earlier, with no one else around, the silence around the dinner table drew longer and longer. Elliot studied Parker the entire time. There was something about the look in her eyes, that reminded him of himself, 15 years ago. Halfway through the meal, Parker quickly got up and left, leaving a bewildered Elliot at the table. Worried about what she was about to do, he followed her out the door down to the bar, catching her just as she was about to leave the door.

"Where are you going Parker? I thought we agreed to stay at Nate's."

"I'm getting my gear so that I can find and end Chaos myself. Don't take me for an idiot Elliot. I know Nate and Sophie will try to stop me, but I never expected you to too. I thought we were the ones who did what they can't. What they won't do."

"What you're talking about is murder, Parker! No amount of justification will change that fact. Look, I've been down the road you're heading towards before. Let me tell you, I almost lost everything important to me."

"I don't care! Hardison's dead, and there's nothing left for me to lose. I never cared about anything before I met Hardison. I only cared about money. Not even wealth, just money. Just so that I could keep on living for something, for some feeble purpose in my life. Nothing else matters anymore Elliot!"

Elliot walked over to the bar and poured himself a beer and sat down. "Let me tell you what happened to me okay, Parker? If you still want your revenge, I'll even help you."

Parker hesitated for a moment before sitting down. Elliot sighed with relief. He was hoping not to have to use the sedative he had in his pocket, but he couldn't let Parker become a killer like him. "Fifteen years ago, I was working for the NSA in gathering intel on the Taliban. This was about five years before 9/11 so they weren't "the bad guys" yet. It was basically a throw away assignment. We didn't expect any credible intel to come and so they posted rookies like me on it. One day, an Afghani man tried to warn me of an attack on a village 60 miles south of Kabul. He said the Pakistani secret service had been smuggling weapons through the village and that the Taliban wanted to take these weapons themselves. It was then that I drew the short straw and had to go out to the village to assess the situation.

After three days, I saw that the Taliban had indeed been scouting the village and that they were heavily armed. I immediately reported to my superiors who told me that they knew about the Taliban and assured me that the situation was completely under control. About a week later, I was sent to Gardēz and I decided to stop by the village. When I got there I found out it had been completely wiped out. I can't even describe what it was like to walk through the village and to even recognize where I had stayed when I was there. When I confronted my superiors, they told me that the region was too politically unstable to intervene. That was their excuse for letting an entire village of innocent civilians to die. When I kept harassing them about it, they finally decided to dishonorably discharge me. While I was at my hearing, I was approached by Damien Moreau. He promised me that if I worked for him, I would get my revenge against the Taliban that had destroyed the village. In the end, I worked for him for 10 years. In that time, I got my revenge against the Taliban and then some. I did things for that man that I have regretted ever since. Don't do what I did Parker. Stay with us and let us help you."

Parker was silent for a minute as she thought about what Elliot had just said.

"It's just that he said he didn't want to be alone anymore, and then we all left him in the van and..." Elliot cut her off as she started to ramble. "It's okay," Elliot said giving her a hug. "He had you and that's all that matters." Parker didn't say anything but didn't pull away either. "Look why don't we finish up our drinks, go upstairs and sleep okay? Take this one day at a time." Elliot finished his beer and walked up to the apartment with Parker in tow. After Parker went into Nate's room, Elliot knew something was wrong. He barely made it to the couch before staggering onto it from the sudden dizziness that had swept over him. He collapsed on the couch reaching into his pocket for the syringe he knew wouldn't be there.

**_I think next chapter's gonna be from Parker's perspective. After reading my stories a couple times (for continuity reasons) I realized I've been in Elliot's head a lot. I think there's a reason for this. I'm a guy so I'm not quite sure how Sophie or Parker would think like. Nate's also too smart for his own good, so I'm usually stuck with Elliot. I think I'm gonna try to change that from now on, even it out a bit._**


	8. Chapter 8

**_The next chapter as promised. This one turned out longer than expected but I couldn't see a good place to split it up so w/e._**

Parker felt bad about spiking Elliot's drink, but after his story, it was clear that he would only slow her down. She didn't know how strong the sedative was, but she assumed that it would last at least 6 hours giving her enough time to get her gear and get to Washington, D.C. before Elliot woke up. It was four in the morning by the time she arrived in Washington and she checked into a motel hoping she had put enough distance between herself and the team. She knew she would need help to track down Chaos, and if her team wouldn't help her, she'd have to get it elsewhere. But that would have to wait. Right now, she needed sleep. When she woke up around noon, she headed straight to the J. Edgar Hoover building to meet up with some old friends.

This would be a little trickier than normal though. The only time she'd tried the Agent Hagen cover had been in the field. Going into the FBI HQ would be a whole different story. She only hoped that Hardison had thought to create this cover story with all the details necessary, but then again, Hardison probably went overboard like always. As she walked through the front doors, she could feel a shiver run down her spine. Now she knew what Hardison was talking about being surrounded by the very people who are paid to stop and catch you. She never had problems with FBI agents before, but this was their home turf. Pulling herself together, she approached the receptionist with as much confidence as possible.

"Can I help you?" the woman behind the desk inquired.

"Yes. I need to see Agent McSweeten and Agent Taggert. It's extremely important I see them right now."

"Of course, and who should I tell them is here to see them?"

"Agent Hagen from the Boston Division."

"Oh sweetie, you don't need to sign in here. You can just swipe your key card and go in."

"That's the thing, see for the past year I've been under cover and during my assignment, my cover was almost blown and I had to discard my key card."

"Oh, I'll just let them know you're here and they can escort you wherever you need. Here's a guest pass for now. You can wait over there for them," she said gesturing at the benches in the corner.

"Thank you so much. I can't tell you how important this is." Lest than five minutes later, Agent McSweeten was quickly making his way toward the lobby looking eagerly for the blonde.

"Special Agent Hagen, over here!" Parker quickly made her way over to elevators and got in as soon as she saw McSweeten.

"How did you like the haiku I sent you?" he asked breaking the awkward silence up to the 23 floor.

"Oh it was nice, but I'm really here on business this time. It's my partner Special Agent Thomas. He was undercover in New York investigating the local mob when he ran into a roadblock and he said he needed our help, so my boss sent me here to enlist your help."

"I'll help any way I can. My desk is over there by Taggert." Parker could tell immediately spotted the desk next to Taggert that was stacked with paperwork. "So why don't you tell Taggert and me what happened and what you need."

"So my partner was undercover in New York yesterday, when he was in a meeting with someone he didn't recognize and he needs our help identifying him."

"Oh, yeah I remember something in the news about a van that exploded out there. We were worried it was a terrorist attack. Is he okay?" Although Taggert seemed genuinely concerned about Hardison, Parker realized she couldn't tell them he was dead or else there would be a lot more scrutiny the team could handle because they thought he was an FBI agent.

"He's fine. We just have to find the guy he was meeting with. Here's what I know. He introduced himself as Charles Vesita, a researcher for Bering Aeronautics. Unfortunately it seems like everything we know about him seems to be false. He has no record of employment with Bering Aeronautics, or any affiliation with the mob. In fact, we couldn't even find a Charles Vesita that matched the one we saw. The only thing we have to identify him is his car. We were able to apprehend it as he escaped. The plates are fake and the VIN is scratched out so we were hoping some of your tech boys could look at it and tell us what they know."

"Of course, but it's going to take a while." Taggert got up and grabbed the keys off of his desk. "I'll meet you out back and get the paper work started."

"Yeah I'll walk down with you and show you how to get there," McSweeten added a little too eagerly. Parker couldn't help but feel the awkward as she rode the elevator down to the car. "It's going to take a while for the technicians to inspect the car, so I figured we could spend the time grabbing a cup of coffee and catching up."

"Actually I was hoping I could comb through you database and see what information you had on Colin Mason aka Chaos. We believe that he was involved in some way to the bombing due to the information Thomas was able to give us."

"You can park over there and let the technicians take over. I'm sure we can set something up for you. I've actually heard of Chaos. He became pretty big news when he broke out of prison a second time. I heard he's into some pretty bad stuff. I hope we catch him soon."

"Yeah I'll definitely find him." After an exhaustive search through the FBI database, she was no closer to locating Chaos. Luckily for her, they were able to find some information from the car.

"We couldn't match the car to any car stolen from a rental company. That leaves us to believe that it was stolen cleaned, and then sold to whoever used it last. They did try to erase the VIN number but they did a bad job of it and were able to eventually locate the original owner. Guy goes by the name Borya German. Immigrated from the former Soviet Union 40 years ago and set up as a film maker. Mostly works on B list films."

"Can I see all the actors he's worked with?"

"Sure, give me a second," McSweeten said as he brought the list up on his monitor. Parker quickly pinpointed the man she had known as "Vesita." If she hurried, she could still make it to the last flight back to New York. After getting his address Parker immediately got up to leave for the airport, only to be stopped on her way out by McSweeten.

"Is Agent Thomas still undercover? If you need a partner, I'm sure Taggert has everything under control here. Besides, you really should not see a convicted criminal alone," he said looking at his partner still trying to finish all the paperwork on his desk.

"Thanks McSweeten, but it's not necessary. I'm just going to talk to him. I'll be fine." It's "Frank Tolstoy" who he should be worried about thought Parker as she got on the elevator.

**_Next chapter we're back to Nate Sophie and Elliot. If you're lucky and I'm not busy, you might have the next chapter before the end of the weekend._**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Sorry for the delay guys. Had a bit of writer's block but anyways here's the next chapter._**

"Nate, it's Eliot. Parker's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone? How could you let this happen?"

"She drugged me Nate!"

"Alright fine. Just hang on then. We're on our way back now."

By the time Nate and Sophie got back to the apartment, it was already late afternoon. Elliot had tried to track Parker and Chaos but came up empty on both ends. Try as he might, he could not get Hardison's computer to work in any way, shape, or form.

"So what's the plan Nate? Do we go after Parker or Chaos first?"

"We go after Chaos. We know Parker's goal and if we can get there first we can stop her. First order of business, find out where he is."

"I already contacted all my contacts Nate. No one knows where he is." Sophie said.

"Mine too Nate. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it himself."

"Okay then, I guess I'll just have to use mine." Sophie and Elliot smirked at each other.

"You have contacts? Does IYS track people now?"

"No, but last time I checked, Interpol does."

"Great. We're gonna use Sterling? The other guy who drugged me Sterling? This day just gets better and better."

"Come on Elliot, it's for Hardison. Besides you don't even have to see him. I need you to go back to Chicago. Something's going down and I don't want to take any chances."

"What about you guys. I can't leave you guys alone. I'm not letting Chaos get to you guys too."

"We'll be fine. We're going straight for the NSA. There's nowhere safer for us, okay? Now Sterling's in town meeting with Special Agent Durst. Yeah, apparently he got promoted. Sophie you're going to have to get us to them. Since he doesn't know you it'll be easiest for you to get in. Hopefully once we're in, we'll have enough leverage to get us to help locate Chaos. Now, let's go steal us a hacker."

It was a short drive to Langley, but they had a lot of planning to do. Since their last visit, Fred had given them his contact information and now they intended to use it to get to Sterling. As well as they knew Sterling, they knew he still had no intention of helping the team unless he had to. They figured the best place to ambush Sterling would be during his meeting with Fred Durst.

As they entered the conference room, Sterling and Fred greeted their intruders.

"Just the people we were talking about. We were just discussing how best to bring you in," Sterling said motioning toward Nate. "Come on in. We have a lot to discuss, you and I. "

"Indeed we do. I find myself in need of your help."

"Let me guess. You need help tracking a certain hacker and need us to do it." Nate just nodded his head suspiciously. "We think we have a location. Let's take a walk." Nate couldn't shake the feeling that something was out of place.

Fred took lead as he lead them down the basement and explained what had happened. "Earlier today we had a breach of security. We were extremely lucky to catch them. Here's our lead cryptanalyst, Jason Sheppard."

"Actually after reviewing the code some more. I'm under the impression that they wanted to get caught. You see these are the logs from earlier this morning. At 7:24 am only 678 people were logged in at the time. 3 minutes later the number spiked up to just under 4,000. Obviously most of those were real employees coming in during rush hour. Unfortunately the hacker exploited a loop hole wherein when the system receives more than a certain number of log ins a minute, it opens additional lines of entry in order to accommodate the increased traffic. Normally this is not a problem because all of the lines added are already wired into the network that lay dormant when not in use in order to conserve resources and narrow down the size of the network for security reasons. However this morning, there was an additional line added without our knowledge and implemented seamlessly. It was through this line that our hacker was able to take the information.

It was implemented so seamlessly that we didn't even know there was a breach until he disengaged the line. Now this is strange because the hard part isn't getting the line out, but getting it in. If a hacker is skilled enough to be able to do what he did, there is no reason he wouldn't be able to get away clean with it. It was almost as if he wanted to get caught."

"What was the data that he took?" Nate asked.

"That's the first reason we wanted to bring you in," Fred replied quickly. "It was the data that you got from the NSA and the Senator that was taken. We had started to go through the data trying to sort out the relevant information and deleting everything else. Right now, the only people who know about this secret who hasn't been cleared is your team. Any idea who would be capable of breaking into our servers and stealing the information?"

Nate looked at Sophie unsure as to what they should say. "We just had a run in with Colin Mason, a.k.a. Chaos who had just broken out of jail. We were in New York for a job when he showed up."

"New York? So was he involved in the bombing?"

"Yes and we need your help tracking him. We can help each other out right? We catch him and you make sure he stays in prison?"

"I'm sure we can make a deal." Sterling said smiling. Just another win in his book.


End file.
